PlayStation 4 lead looked at x86 chips in 2007, wants polished games on day one

@ 2013/03/28

Many game developers will tell you that the PlayStation 3's Cell processor was a real bear to support. What they can't tell you: the PlayStation 4's lead architect, Mark Cerny, was already thinking of a solution as far back as 2007. He just revealed to Gamasutra that he'd been researching x86-based processors for the PS4 merely a year after the PS3 launch, knowing that there were "some issues" with realizing the Cell's potential. The new console's unified memory and eight-core CPU were the ultimate results of Cerny's talks with game creators shortly after he took the reins in 2008. We've already seen the shift in attitudes through a very developer-centric PlayStation Meeting, but Cerny wants to underscore just how different the PS4's holiday launch should be versus what we remember from 2006 -- even the first wave of PS4 games should benefit from a healthy toolset, he says. We'll know his long-term planning paid off if the initial PS4 library shows the level of refinement that took years to manifest on the PS3.